No Power In DD Swing

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May 9, 2019
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My DD has a hard time getting the ball to get anywhere past the infield. From what I can see, she's swinging hard, and actually has decent form.. but for some reason, it just has no pop in the swing.

She even uses her hips to rotate properly, yet other girls on her team who are 100% arm swing, they hit it out into the outfield. Admittedly, my DD is a little weak in the upper body. She can't do a proper pushup, and just is very thin on the arms. Could it be that she's just not strong enough yet? She plays 10U, is about 4 ft tall and weighs 57 pounds on a good day. Please shoot me some ideas on why this might be happening?

Overall I think she's hitting the ball solid as well.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
My DD has a hard time getting the ball to get anywhere past the infield. From what I can see, she's swinging hard, and actually has decent form.. but for some reason, it just has no pop in the swing.

She even uses her hips to rotate properly, yet other girls on her team who are 100% arm swing, they hit it out into the outfield. Admittedly, my DD is a little weak in the upper body. She can't do a proper pushup, and just is very thin on the arms. Could it be that she's just not strong enough yet? She plays 10U, is about 4 ft tall and weighs 57 pounds on a good day. Please shoot me some ideas on why this might be happening?

Overall I think she's hitting the ball solid as well.
Without video it is hard to say much..however with bolded in mind I wouldn't be too worried about how far she is hitting it and more interested if she is barreling up balls consistently.
 
May 9, 2019
294
43
Well there were a couple things I've noticed on her swing when in the games..

1- she is so eager to get running that she often times lets go of the bat as soon as she makes the initial contact

2- she doesn't fully follow through on her swing, since as mentioned above, she's letting go of the bat on contact, so her feet are not firmly planted throughout her swing to finish

I do have some videos but not great quality so i'll try to take a good one next game to show you.



Also, anyone have pointers on how to get my DD to get over the fear of swinging when it's a pitcher pitching to her? She doesn't even load up on pitchers pitches.. only when the coach pitches after 4 balls will she actually swing.
 
Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
Post a video, you're wasting your time without it.

Most of hitting is technique. Most kids (maybe 90+%) this age have bat drag. Yours likely has bat drag which causes the weak grounders to the infield.
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Would some weight training help?
Personally I wouldn't worry about weight training at that age.. JMHO. You said she has good form, but that only seems to apply to a tee swing? The issues you mentioned above would indicate a break down in mechanics in a game situation... for example, intent to run before finishing swing, intent should be to hit the ball as hard as possible(without over swinging), worry about running after.

My DD's were not scared of the ball, I know its a popular issue, luckily one I didn't have to deal with. I would say the more experience seeing live pitching will result in being more comfortable at the plate.
 
Oct 2, 2017
2,283
113
My DD has a hard time getting the ball to get anywhere past the infield. From what I can see, she's swinging hard, and actually has decent form.. but for some reason, it just has no pop in the swing.

She even uses her hips to rotate properly, yet other girls on her team who are 100% arm swing, they hit it out into the outfield. Admittedly, my DD is a little weak in the upper body. She can't do a proper pushup, and just is very thin on the arms. Could it be that she's just not strong enough yet? She plays 10U, is about 4 ft tall and weighs 57 pounds on a good day. Please shoot me some ideas on why this might be happening?

Overall I think she's hitting the ball solid as well.

I also will say without video we are all just guessing. I would say post a video even if lower quality. It should still give some feedback of whats going on. I would agree that a lot of kids at this age have elbow drag or bat drag. Which even with bat drag at this age can still give what seems like good results. See it all the time with my DD 2nd 8U.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
57 lbs. She should be able to hit the ball around 100 ft. Tops. So if she is weak in the upper body she probably is dragging the bat. She has to try to match her tee swing with her live pitching swing. Tee swings tend to be more aggresive. The goal is to use the same agresive intentions in the box.
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Agree with everybody, vid would be good. However it seems like you diagnosed a very important part the issue, thinking about running prior to finishing the swing. Commit to the hitting first, think about running after. That would be the first place I would start even before getting into the particulars of mechanics. She could have stellar mechanics off the tee... but that won't matter in a game if she doesn't have a "hit ball" first mentality.
 

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